LONDON'S FUMING
How to stop London traffic growing? The question is one that politicians find hard to answer. A three-year government sponsored study on charging for road space in London is soon to be delivered to the Department of Transport. The House of Commons is now reviewing evidence from transport officials who say that imposing road charges in London would be complex and difficult.
Planners in Britain have been encouraged to believe that charging for road-use is the best way of tackling urban traffic density by successful road-pricing schemes like in Singapore and Oslo. The charges would fall most heavily on those who had no alternative but to use their cars. Travel to the charged area would drop and commercial activity would be much lower unless measures were taken to use local earnings to improve public transport. Finally, there may appear some technological problems. It is not yet clear whether necessary technology is sufficiently reliable in the city of the size and complexity of London.
Six charging systems have been investigated, all of them based on cars with various electronic devices. The simplest were the tags read by road computers. More advanced systems rely on smart cards. The card's travel credits are automatically deducted by a road-side computer. Other systems use satellites to track car movements and then charge drivers by the exact distance they have travelled in a certain area.
Government ministers say that it would be easier to try the techniques out on the ground in a smaller and less complicated place than London first. This is the evidence that the government is wary and cautious both of the politics and the practicality of the road-pricing in London. Even the results of these modest trials are not going to take place before the first decade of the 21 century. The head of the transport department told members of Parliament that any road-pricing probably would not be introduced until the year 2002.
Doubling the real price of petrol over the next decade, the approach supported by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution in its report, is no more effective in dealing with traffic density. Charging all drivers instead of those causing problems makes little sense.
The politicians should persuade the voters that they should pay directly for using overcrowded road.
| |
| Вопрос №1: According to the text the problem of traffic growing in Britain: | |
| Ваш ответ: A. has been settled by politicians. B. will be settled in three years. C. could hardly be settled until at least 2002. D. is sponsored by the Government. | |
| Вопрос №2: As it is clear from the text charges will most seriously touch those: | |
| Ваш ответ: A. who go to the city centre. B. who use public transport. C. who have no alternative to car transport. D. who are poor and have no cars. | |
| Вопрос №3: The text states that British planners believe that road-pricing schemes are the best way to settle the problem: | |
| Ваш ответ: A. as they have no alternatives. B. judging by the successful experience of other countries. C. because of existing reliable technologies. D. because they are complex and difficult. | |
| Вопрос №4: Among the methods most likely to be used in road charging the text lacks: | |
| Ваш ответ: A. tags. B. smart cards. C. traffic wardens. D. satellites. | |
| Вопрос №5: It follows from the text that to settle the problem the politicians should: | |
| Ваш ответ: A. explain to the voters the necessity to pay. B. double the price for petrol. C. charge all drivers. D. make more reports on pollution. |
Ответы: C C B C A